


Caveat Emptor

by sannlykke



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Needful Things AU, Other, Will add more characters as needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-20 00:29:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3629895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sannlykke/pseuds/sannlykke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The average passerby might not even notice the little store under the bridge, displaying its wares silently but so temptingly. And there was that charming young man who managed it...well, it wouldn't hurt to browse, would it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caveat Emptor

**Author's Note:**

> A small disclaimer: The bulk of this chapter was written almost two years ago. 
> 
> The main gang will gradually appear as the story moves along, some in slightly different roles than they have in-series. Not quite sure where this AU is going yet, but we'll see when we get there, won't we?

> Keep an eye on him, I tell you. Keep an eye on everything.  
>  You’ve been here before, but things are about to change.  
>  I know it.  
>  I feel it.  
>  There’s a storm on the way.
> 
> **needful things** , _stephen king_

 

In Tokyo, new stores open all the time.

Kida Masaomi was just a regular punk kid, not some curio-collecting purveyor that he assumed flocked to places like this store, located just under the bridge near his high school. It had been a dilapidated alcohol and cigarette place that supplied its wares to workmen around the area before being renovated, close enough a walk to the humdrum chaos of Shinjuku station but on a wayside alley that presented more last-century tranquility than sparkling mechanized future. In a sense, caught between two worlds.

What had initially drawn Kida to the place was the big, kitschy neon sign hanging at an angle from the building’s roof, proclaiming DOLLARS: The Most Curious Antiques In Town!, and the faux police tape dangling from the Opening Soon! poster on the wooden door. Already someone had spray-painted red and green hearts over part of ‘Soon.’ The display window was dirt-ridden and empty save for a few Ming vases and what looked like jewelry boxes.

"It looks kind of creepy, doesn’t it?"

"Yeah." Saki, his girlfriend, moved closer to him as they passed by. Kida wasn’t particularly interested in what the place had to sell; rather, he wondered if the new owner wouldn’t be so opposed to letting them hang out around the area. His friends were known to get rowdy, and there was an arcade nearby. The last owner, a hunchbacked old lady, was always there to shoo them—and Kida wasn’t about to fight an old lady.

-

Two days after Kida discovered the tape and poster gone, with a small bronze bell hanging from a newly installed nail. Whoever the proprietor was clearly had a mind to make it as unassuming as possible. A spotless pane of glass displayed its contents: a grungy set of knives in a velvet-lined case, racks of postcards dating from the prewar era, silk fans, a large teddy bear, rusted-silver typewriters and what looked like a disembodied head floating in formaldehyde. _Huh_.

He contemplated going inside just for kicks, but a well-aimed soda can to the head from behind made him drop that idea and actually kick someone.

-

It would be Saki’s birthday soon, and she _had_ taken a liking to the teddy bear in the window.

"I’m getting you a surprise," he’d told her, and the girl had smiled sweetly and kissed him on the nose. Kida felt giddy all the way up to the doorstep of DOLLARS. He had hopefully saved up enough to be able to afford the bear—in any case, he could just haggle. Antique stores like this do that, don’t they?

Upon entering he discovered the interior was very, very dim—not so much that he couldn’t see, but just enough to make him slightly disoriented. There were shelves of other things, loads of junk he couldn’t recognize. But anyway—he was just here for the bear.

There seemed to be nobody at the counter. “Yo, anybody here?”

After a few moments of silence he walked over to the window; the bear was slightly dusty, but otherwise in acceptable condition. If there was a price tag, it was hidden underneath. “I wonder how much this is…”

"Not much, since you’re my very first customer!" Kida whirled around, surprised to see a figure materialize from a curtained doorway he’d somehow missed upon his first glance around the room. The first thing Kida noticed about the proprietor’s face was his smile, inviting and charming. He was wearing a strange sort of black fur-trimmed coat that looked way too warm for the weather; Kida held in a giggle. It wasn’t too strange for people to offer discounts on opening day, and the shop seemed to cater to a very small, very specific clientele. "Would the bear be your entire purchase today, hm?"

Alright, so maybe he talked a little funny. Kida nodded, the coins and wrinkled yen notes suddenly feeling very hot in his pocket. The man strode towards him, giving Kida a better look at his face. He looked to be around his early twenties, nothing like what the teen had imagined an antiques shop owner would be like—perhaps he was from another part of the country where this was normal, judging by his speech and dress. In the dim light it was difficult to tell the color of the man’s eyes, but Kida noticed a slight red tint to them. Colored contacts, huh?

"So, about—"

"Ah, I’m terribly sorry, I’ve forgotten all my manners!" With a dramatic sweep of his arms the man bowed, startling Kida that he almost bumped into the rack behind. "I have yet to introduce myself! Orihara Izaya, proprietor of antiques and indispensable knowledge, at your service."

Kida was not sure what sort of ‘indispensable knowledge’ Izaya was talking about. Instead he smiled a tad uncertainly. “Hello, Orihara-san! I’m Kida Masaomi—”

"Please, just call me Izaya." He sat down on a chair that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere from behind the counter, indicating for Kida to do the same. "Would you like a cup of tea, Masaomi-kun?"

"I, well, I actually have to be back around six for dinner." Maybe he should've waited before rushing in, Kida thought, but then Izaya moved to snag the bear from its counter, dusting it off in the process. "But if you really want to—"

"Oh no, I wouldn’t want to keep you from your family." Izaya replied silkily, turning the bear around—presumably to check for any flaws. Kida watched him nervously, although he couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t like this was the first time he’s bought something from a random, sketchy establishment. Suddenly he was a little embarrassed; maybe Izaya was judging him. "I’d say though, would this be a gift, perhaps for a lady friend?"

"Yep!" Kida brightened up, glad the other man understood why he was here. "I figured she’d like something nice for her birthday, and she’s been looking at the bear every afternoon we get out after school and...well, yeah."

Realizing he’d perhaps said a bit much, Kida trailed off, but Izaya didn’t seem to mind. Rather, he gave a good-natured laugh. “Yes, and it’s quite charming, isn’t it?”

He started reading, snagging parts from a tag produced from underneath the bear. “Mint condition, a fine antique from 1890s Germany. A true work of art. What do you say to that, Masaomi-kun?”

"Ah, um." 1890? This thing was more than a century old. His head swam. "That’s pretty cool! How did you manage to find it?"

Izaya put a finger to his lips, where a mischievous smile danced. “Oh, you know, I find things quite easily. You need a talent for that to be in this business, let me just leave it at that.”

Fair enough. Kida looked down at his pockets, then up at Izaya again. “So about the price…?”

The momentary gleam in Izaya’s eyes should’ve warned him, but he was too caught up in what the man had to say next. “The price? There _is_ no price, Masaomi-kun, haven’t you seen the tag?”

And he showed it to Kida, who stared at the German lettering and nodded without actually knowing what it said. There were no numbers though, not even a scrabbled ‘4,500 yen’ or whatever over the original, slightly yellowed tag.

 

“…” Kida pondered on this for a moment. “It’s free?”

 

“Nothing in life is free, Masaomi-kun.” Izaya leaned in suddenly, dropping his voice to a whisper. His eyes were wider now, and try as he might, Kida found himself unable to look away. “But yes, as we've been getting along so delightfully ... I’m _sure_  I can whip up a deal for you.”


End file.
